Trial reportBMC musculoskeletal disorders2021
Exercise-therapy and education for individuals one year after anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction: a pilot randomised controlled trial.
Trial report in BMC musculoskeletal disorders, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 11 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
11 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 21 citations in OpenAlex.
- Core exercises for performance, pain, and Lower-limb biomechanics in individuals with ACL-Reconstruction: A systematic review with Meta-analysis of randomized control trials.Scientific reports · 2025Pooled it
- An anti-inflammatory diet intervention for knee osteoarthritis: a feasibility study.BMC musculoskeletal disorders · 2022Trial
- A roadmap for developing a program to self-manage post-traumatic knee osteoarthritis risk.Osteoarthritis and cartilage open · 2026Article
- Toward designing human intervention studies to prevent osteoarthritis after knee injury: A report from an interdisciplinary OARSI 2023 workshop.Osteoarthritis and cartilage open · 2024Article
- Article
- Recruitment and baseline characteristics of young adults at risk of early-onset knee osteoarthritis after ACL reconstruction in the SUPER-Knee trial.BMJ open sport & exercise medicine · 2024Article
- Comparison of Impairments, Activity Limitations, Balance, and Quality of Life between Patients with and without Meniscus Repair or Partial Meniscectomy Post-ACL Reconstruction.Journal of clinical medicine · 2023Article
- Trajectory of knee health in runners with and without heightened osteoarthritis risk: the TRAIL prospective cohort study protocol.BMJ open · 2023Article
- Article
- Rehabilitation after anterior cruciate ligament and meniscal injuries: a best-evidence synthesis of systematic reviews for the OPTIKNEE consensus.British journal of sports medicine · 2022Review
- Feasibility of the SOAR (Stop OsteoARthritis) program.Osteoarthritis and cartilage open · 2022Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
5 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundGuided rehabilitation beyond 6-months is rare following anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction (ACLR), despite high prevalence of unacceptable symptoms and quality of life (QoL). Our primary aim was to determine the feasibility of a randomised controlled trial (RCT) evaluating a physiotherapist-guided intervention for individuals 1-year post-ACLR with persistent symptoms. Our secondary aim was to determine if a worthwhile treatment effect could be observed for the lower-limb focussed intervention (compared to the trunk-focussed intervention), for improvement in knee-related QoL, symptoms, and function.
designParticipant- and assessor-blinded, pilot feasibility RCT.
methodsParticipant eligibility criteria: i) 12-15 months post-ACLR; ii) < 87.5/100 on the Knee injury and Osteoarthritis Outcome Score (KOOS) QoL subscale; and either a one-leg rise test < 22 repetitions, single-hop < 90% limb symmetry; or Anterior Knee Pain Scale < 87/100. Participants were randomised to lower-limb or trunk-focussed focussed exercise and education. Both interventions involved 8 face-to-face physiotherapy sessions over 16-weeks. Feasibility was assessed by eligibility rate (> 1 in 3 screened), recruitment rate (> 4 participants/month), retention (< 20% drop-out), physiotherapy attendance and unsupervised exercise adherence (> 80%). Between-group differences for knee-related QoL (KOOS-QoL, ACL-QoL), symptoms (KOOS-Pain, KOOS-Symptoms), and function (KOOS-Sport, functional performance tests) were used to verify that the worthwhile effect (greater than the minimal detectable change for each measure) was contained within the 95% confidence interval.
results47% of those screened were eligible, and 27 participants (3 participants/month; 48% men, 34±12 years) were randomised. Two did not commence treatment, and two were lost to follow-up (16% drop-out). Physiotherapy attendance was > 80% for both groups but reported adherence to unsupervised exercise was low (< 55%). Both interventions had potentially worthwhile effects for KOOS-QoL and ACL-QoL, while the lower-limb focussed intervention had potentially greater effects for KOOS-Sport, KOOS-Pain, and functional performance.
conclusionsA larger-scale RCT is warranted. All feasibility criteria were met, or reasonable recommendations could be made to achieve the criteria in future trials. Strategies to increase recruitment rate and exercise adherence are required. The potential worthwhile effects for knee-related QoL, symptoms, and function indicates a fully-powered RCT may detect a clinically meaningful effect.
trial registrationProspectively registered ( ACTRN12616000564459 ).
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.